By JR Minor
If you have a cell phone, or home phone, you already know that Robo-Calls have mushroomed to more than 300 percent in the last year alone! Many of them with spoofed phone numbers that appear from your local area codes. The callers have no interest in your well being or privacy! They will call, text, or blast you with pre-recorded messages until you are just to the point of taking a hammer to the phone it’s self! Some of the machines sound so realistic you think you are actually talking to a real person! I always ask them something like “Is my car running out of oil?” and then you can tell when they respond with “I will have to ask my supervisor about that”.
FCC Finally Taking Action!
In 2018 the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) charged three Companies with federal fines totaling more than 239 million dollars. The Companies were fined for “Robo-Calling”, “Massive Neighborhood Calling”, and “Number Spoofing”.
Unwanted calls, including illegal and spoofed robocalls, are the FCC's top consumer complaint! The next highest complaints are from consumers who’s numbers have been used by the Robo-callers. Many of these telemarketers are involved in Medicare Fraud, phishing scams (Looking for personal information), and complicated schemes to part you with your money or credit card information!
The problem has escalated to the point now that the FTC (US Federal Trade Commission) and the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) have partnered to address the Robo-Call issue. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been allocated in a new budget to help eliminate these annoying calls. These Federal entities are now working with the phone carriers – trying to discover the offenders before they reach the consumer.
New Technology Programs
New technology is being installed at the termination points to identify the offenders. The data will be used to build a shared database used among all carriers. As soon as the offender begins the calling process,and is identified, the data will be fed to other carriers who will begin terminating the call before it reaches the customer.
What Can We Do Now?
* First, enter your number on the Federal Trade Commission’s Do Not Call List
* Second you can file a complaint with the FCC Consumer Complaints Center
FCC’s Suggestions For Stopping The Calls Now!
The FCC website has some very good suggestions to help you eliminate these annoying calls! Visit their page at – Stop Unwanted Calls & Robotexts
These are all good suggestions but they won’t completely stop all the calls! You can certainly bet that it will slow them down! If you own an Iphone you can use the Block Caller option to at least stop calls from the same number! Such as the annoying Donation, Political, and constant NRA calls!
Alternative Methods!
There are several phone apps that are also very effective at eliminating these calls. Some paid… and some Free!
Nomorobo – Is a great app for both IOS and Android. The App is Free for VOIP Home Phones, and at present, $1.99 a month for Smart Phones!
The software will work on iPhone 5s and up running iOS 10 and above. A version is also available for all Android devices 4.1 and up! The app will not work on any cellular device that is not a smartphone!
Cell Carriers – “Entering The Ring in 2019”
* Enhanced Caller Name ID – Verizon’s new Name Caller ID (2019) Free!
* Scam Block – Scam ID – T-Mobile’s Solution (2019) Free!
* Call Protect – AT&T new Caller Protection System (2019) Free!
* Premium Caller ID – Sprint’s new Solution (2019) $4.99 Mo. ??
I’m sure that the third party sellers such as TracFone, Straight Talk, Virgin Mobile, Consumer Cellular, etc. will all have some new version of protection beginning in 2019.
Maybe we will all get some relief from these nuisances and back to using our phone for what it was intended!
How To Stop Robo-Calls!
Reviewed by WebTrader24
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6:04 PM
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Reviewed by WebTrader24
on
6:04 PM
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